Smarting under humiliating defeat in the by-election to Hisar Lok Sabha seat in Haryana, Congress on Tuesday rubbished the idea that the "Anna factor" had played a role in its drubbing and questioned the civil society members' silence on corruption in Mayawati-ruled Uttar Pradesh.
After the polling ends on Thursday evening, voters will seal the fate of 40 candidates who are in the fray.
The battle for Hisar has 40 candidates, but the real fight is between the big three -- Kuldeep Bishnoi of the Haryana Janhit Congress, Ajay Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal and former MP Jai Prakash of the Congress.
The voter turnout recorded in the 2019 assembly polls was around 68 per cent.
An analysis of the affidavits of all the 90 winning candidates by the Association for Democratic Reforms and Haryana Election Watch show a slight rise in the number of crorepati MLAs, from 93 percent in 2019 to 96 percent this time.
Curfew was on Tuesday clamped in Mayyar village and its surrounding areas in Hisar district in Haryana after In view of the volatile situation, district authorities have sought the help of the Army, officials said, adding that additional police forces have been deployed in the violence-hit areas. Hisar's Deputy Commissioner Yudhvir Khaliya said curfew had been clamped in Mayyar and other sensitive villages to maintain law and order and help restore peace.
Under the new regulations, known as the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Amendment Rules, 2024, fees will now be charged on the actual distance travelled if the distance exceeds 20 kilometres.
It is not a part of the current public health emergency reported by WHO which is regarding clade 1 of mpox, it underlined.
Officials said Clade 1b strain has been detected in a 38-year-old man from Malappuram district who had recently returned from the United Arab Emirates.
In spiralling violence, Jat protesters torched a police post and a judge's car and stormed the premises of Power Grid Corporation following the death of a person in Hisar, prompting authorities to seek army's help and close all educational institutions for three days in the district.
With the fourth and fifth lists, the party has declared candidates on 88 of the 90 seats.
Did Team Anna member and Right to Information activist Arvind Kejriwal commit a criminal office when he appealed to Hisar voters not to vote for the Congress in the by-polls?
The campaign by Team Anna in Hisar Lok Sabha bypoll may have raised hackles of Congress, but the Election Commission on Tuesday said it did not violate any election law and the panel saw no reason for intervention.
It is a victory for Kuldeep Bishnoi in Hisar. But indirectly, the Bharatiya Janata Party has made roots into the fort of Bhajan Lal sympathisers.
A fact-finding committee has been set up by the Press Council of India to look into the attack on media persons by police personnel in Hisar district during clashes that erupted at the ashram of controversial 'godman' Rampal.
Hours after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party put out its first list of 67 candidates for the Haryana Assembly polls, sitting MLA Lakshman Dass Napa quit the party while former minister Karan Dev Kamboj stepped down as state unit's OBC Morcha chief after being denied tickets.
"We are not going to hold any talk with the state government till the time our demand (of releasing those arrested) is met. There will also be no talks with the Khap leaders, who are only acting on behalf of the state government," All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti leader, Suresh Koth said.
'Till a few years ago, girls wouldn't take an autorickshaw alone. Now, things have improved.'
Haryana Janhit Congress chief Kuldeep Bishnoi, who was supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party, won the Hisar by-polls defeating Indian National Lok Dal 's Ajay Chautala. Congress' Jai Prakash was in the third position.
A blame game began in the Congress on Tuesday as it failed in its bid to come back to power in Haryana after 10 years, with senior party leader Kumari Selja saying the party high command should assess all reasons that led to the disappointing result and identify the people responsible.
The Congress on Tuesday said it cannot accept the Haryana assembly polls verdict as there were 'serious issues' about the integrity of the counting process and functioning of the EVMs in some districts, and asserted that it would take up the matter with the Election Commission.
Jannayak Janta Party chief Ajay Singh Chautala on Wednesday said his party worked with full honesty to fulfil the 'gathbandhan dharma' over the last four and half years of the alliance and his party was never power hungry.
'When our daughters, wrestlers Sakshi Malik and Vignesh Phogat, were protesting at the Jantar Mantar, the police kicked them with their shoes.'
After hectic parleys and much back and forth with the INDIA bloc allies, the Congress also ended up going into the polls with its original plan of largely going solo.
Hours before the ceremony, Saini visited the Valmiki Bhawan and offered prayers at a gurdwara and the Mansa Devi temple in Panchkula.
Nayab Singh Saini on Wednesday staked claim to form the next government in Haryana, hours after he was unanimously elected as the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party legislature party in the state.
Rejecting Team Anna's claim of influencing the outcome in the Hisar by-election, Indian National Lok Dal chief Om Parkash Chautala on Tuesday said that people voted against the Congress to vent their anger against the ruling party. "Team Anna's claim of taking credit is wrong. People voted against the Congress to vent their anger against the ruling party. They were fed up by the misrule of Congress at the Centre and the state," he said.
Bucking anti-incumbency, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party pulled off a hat-trick of wins in Haryana to retain power and halt Congress' comeback attempt in the assembly elections, results of which were announced on Tuesday.
A land-owning class, the Jats are a powerful community and account for 28 per cent of Haryana's population. The time, they believe, has now come for them to take revenge.
Veteran party leader Anil Vij will seek re-election from his Ambala Cantt stronghold.
A local court today sent six youths arrested on the charge of gang-rape of an 18-year-old girl to two-day police custody.
With the Congress pushed to a distant third in Hisar by-polls, Anna Hazare on Monday said the party should take cue from the result and ensure passage of Jan Lokpal Bill in winter session of Parliament or else he would personally campaign against it in upcoming Assembly elections.
Family members of Neelam, one of the two persons arrested for protesting outside Parliament on Wednesday, said she had earlier participated in several agitations including farmers' movement.
The government said in an order that mobile internet services would be banned in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa districts.
Instead of harvesting the wrath against the BJP and using it to their advantage by opting for a collective form of leadership, the Congress decided once again to bestow their trust in the Hooda family who were given a free hand in the distribution of tickets. This turned out to be the biggest blunder and this faulty selection was the single over riding factor in the Congress defeat, explains Rashme Sehgal.
Internal bickering in the Haryana Congress on Friday came to the fore with the party "unanimously" passing a resolution demanding action against all those who "sabotaged" the party nominees' chances in the Hisar Lok Sabha bye-election.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre and the Haryana government on alleged assault by the police on media persons during an operation to arrest 'godman' Rampal in Hisar and sought their response on a plea of some journalists seeking judicial probe into the incident.
Singh targeted the Congress using a 'snakes and ladders' analogy, saying the party will fall to zero from 99 after being bitten by a snake -- referring to the grand old party winning 99 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.
Many Dalits claim that an atmosphere of fear continues to prevail in the village after the attack and some Dalit families were reported to have fled from the village.
The lure of Bollywood made two minor girls of Hisar, Haryana -- both students of Class VIII -- to make a trip to Mumbai to meet mega star Shahrukh Khan and also try for roles in TV serials.
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